?Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson said the top English soccer club had been interested in bringing in Spain international David Villa, accoring to website ESPN soccernet on Sunday.

The striker, leading goalscorer of the World cup so far, scored his fifth goal in South Africa to give Spain a 1-0 win over Paraguay in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

The striker flourished into one of the world's finest finishers at Valencia but on May 19 joined Spanish champions Barcelona in a 35-million-pound deal.

United were interested in Villa but Ferguson admits he would have been unable to persuade the player to shun a move to Camp Nou and the chance to play alongside international teammates like Andres Iniesta and Xavi.

"We did consider David Villa but he was always going to Barcelona," Ferguson was quoted as saying.